July 31, 2012

New York and up to 25 other states are moving toward changing the way they grant licenses to teachers, de-emphasizing tests and written essays in favor of a more demanding approach that requires aspiring teachers to prove themselves through lesson plans, homework assignments and videotaped instruction sessions. t is also a reaction to a criticism of some teachers’ colleges, which have been accused of minting diplomas but failing to prepare teachers for the kind of real-world experience where creativity and flexibility can be the keys to success. Read more at:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/nyregion/with-new-standards-going-beyond-paper-and-pencil-to-license-teachers.html?ref=education

In the fall, about 70 universities nationwide will have the service, including all 10 University of California undergraduate campuses. It is designed to bridge conversation between students who need help and those equipped to provide it. Created by the New York City-based American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the program aims to identify troubled students anonymously through their responses to a voluntary survey they will receive a link to in an email that will be sent to everyone admitted to UC. If survey answers raise red flags, a counselor will initiate contact and invite the student to continue communicating, still anonymously, via a dialogue on the website. Read more at:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-suicide-20120729,0,693193.story

When the Texas A&M University System announced that its flagship would gain $260 million in new revenue and savings in the next 10 years by outsourcing its building maintenance, landscaping and dining services, Chancellor John Sharp said the plan was an unprecedented way to raise money in financially struggling higher education. But excitement over the plan is not universal. Many people on campus and in the surrounding community are worried and angry. A&M staff members who perform the support services have expressed concern over their future employment. Read more at:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/us/outsourcing-plan-stirs-fears-among-texas-am-workers.html?_r=1

In all, about 35 Los Angeles-area colleges each have four freeway directional signs. It's easy to see why they want them: "There's a sense of pride in having a freeway sign," said Alan L. Gansberg, dean of Tarzana's Columbia College Hollywood. "It legitimizes you." Caltrans engineers say their rules allow public and private post-secondary schools — both nonprofit and for-profit — to apply for freeway directional signs. To qualify, campuses generally must have at least 1,000 full- or part-time students. Read more at:http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-signs-20120729,0,2677772.story

July 30, 2012

Once the bills for consultants, meals, meetings and other expenses were added up, the price tag for Rutgers University’s latest presidential search came in at $226,532, campus officials said. Campus officials said the cost of the search was a relative bargain compared with Rutgers’ last presidential search a decade ago, which cost nearly $50,000 more. But the university still spent lavishly to wine and dine prospective candidates. Read more at:http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/07/price_tage_for_rutgers_6-month.html

As Japanese schools intensify efforts to globalize their campuses, Akita International University seems well on its way toward internationalization, with foreign exchange students arriving from more than 50 institutions from around the world. Some new schools outside the major cities are beating their bigger, older, slow-moving peers to the punch, with more international students and graduates who are likely to be multicultural and multilingual. They are also drawing the attention of corporate recruiters. Read more at:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/world/asia/30iht-educlede30.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

A report by a special faculty committee looking into the academic fraud scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill found an athletics program divorced from the faculty, academic counselors for athletes improperly helping them enroll in classes and poor oversight of faculty administrators who have wide latitude in running their departments. The three professors who wrote the report called for an independent commission of outside experts in higher education to review athletics and academics at the university. The report comes after a university probe found 54 courses within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies that had little or no instruction, and dozens of independent study classes that had little evidence of academic rigor. The classes were largely filled with athletes. Read more at:http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/26/2223477/unc-chapel-hill-faculty-calls.html

If you are an Indian student interested in applying to colleges and universities in the United States, you’ve probably noticed that the Indian and American education systems are quite different. The university system in Canada, however, can be considered a kind of middle ground between the two. It offers a more Indian-style entrance process and combines it with an American-style interdisciplinary approach to learning. This week on The Choice on India Ink, we’re taking a look at what Canada has to offer Indian students. Read more at:http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/universities-in-canada-worth-considering/?src=recg

University of Colorado students moving out of the dorms last spring donated 42,012 pounds of stuff -- fans, mirrors, snowboards, computer printers -- which is more than double the amount of donations made the previous spring, according to a new report. It could be a sign of an improving economy. In the thick of the recession, it appears, students were more likely to hold on to their goods, donating 15,354 pounds of reusable items in 2010 and 20,144 pounds in 2011. Read more at:http://www.dailycamera.com/cu-news/ci_21159285/cu-boulder-report-42-012-pounds-reusable-items

July 27, 2012

A Portland State University graduate student expelled after allegedly threatening violence against a faculty member wants to return to the university. Henry Liu has filed for an administrative review of his expulsion. A hearing is set for Aug. 3 in a case that raises questions about the balance between student rights and campus safety in an era of school shootings at both the high school and university level. The university banned Liu, who was in the conflict resolution program, from campus this spring after a classmate reported to police that the student was upset with a professor and talked about guns in the same conversation. Read more at:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2018778573_apuscampusthreatallegation.html